Final Fantasy XV

This is a tough one. I've loved the FF series through its highs and lows and I've actually come to really appreciate this entry over time. I first got it when released in 2016 and it was clear that it was unfinished. The plot was choppy and confusing, some of the mechanics were sloppy, and the level of polish really varied throughout the game. However, the relationship between Noct and the boys has always been compelling.

Many of these issues have been addressed over time with DLCs, the spin-off anime, and the CGI film. I've seen them all because I always felt there was some interesting source material here worth exploring and watching them really does elucidate a lot. The problem is, people shouldn't be asked to do that. FF7, for example, still had a confusing narrative, but the plot was intact and all the spin-offs served to enrich the story, not complete it.

In terms of the technical issues, the development was clearly an ironically epic journey. This game was ambitious, and I'm surprised how good it looked at times in 2016. Patches and 60 fps updates makes it run much more beautifully now but the variability in polish during different game areas and occasional sloppy combat is still present. However all this being said, they aimed for the stars and I'm sure took notes on what worked and what didn't.

In the end, this is a unique entry with heart but it just wasn't fully fleshed out. There's a rich lore that unfortunately demands an unreasonable amount of time and money for fans to be able to fully appreciate it. However, Square Enix has shown consistent evidence of listening to their fans (example, making this an open world entry after the feedback that FFXIII was too linear). I have hope that this will lay the groundwork for future entries to be technically better but hopefully also more cohesive from a plot standpoint.

I saw the debut trailer for Versus XIII back in 2006 and the quality of this game was thus in question to the last minute. The director change to Tabata undeniably saved this troubled production but it's very clear that he still needed another year to complete his ambitious vision. The game is divided in 2 parts. The first half is a fun road trip that put exploration first. The ultimately large game world is a bit more fractured into closed off "arenas" than i would have liked. You will need to rely on Chocobos or teleportation to get around, as your car can only go on roads and mostly drives itself. The slightly weird battle system frankly feels like a step backwards, as even the problematic XIII trilogy had a better ones. They should have gone with a true hack and slash battle style, instead of this "tactical" Kingdom Hearts approach, yet it works fine enough. The graphics, soundtrack and voice acting are great. As long as you use the superior Japanese VAs and i noticed that the translation takes many liberties, as the subtitles are based on the English script. Characterization is where the game shines, so on to the "boyband". All 4 are some of the best characters SE ever brought to life. The story is fairly engaging too, as long as you kept up with the media-tie ins, as neither the world nor the boy's backstories are properly explained. This half of the game barely features villains and i just kept going on hunts, went fishing or hunted the royal arms. Luna, her guardian and Aranea (i cheated her into my party) are further great female characters but the mechanic Cindy turned out to be the sexist otaku bait all expected in the end. None of them are seen all that often though. I ended up spending 60 hours till my quest log was all out of missions and on i traveled to the Venice equivalent of the game. The second half took me about 10 hours to complete but i will admit that i could 1-hit-kill half my enemies at this point due to being overpowered. Most of the game's surprisingly dark story is told here and what a skeleton it turned out to be! Characters randomly show up and disappear without warning. The open world returns to the "running down corridors" design of XIII and i had to look up a fan explanations to understand what even happened. And most imploringly why it happened. Meaning that SE published a 2nd Xenogears, with the difference that this borderline broken 2nd half was still fun. My investment in the characters ultimately made me focus on the good sides, even if i rarely played less complete games. The much dreaded Chapter 13 was actually a slightly flawed highlight (your 1 weapon is a bit too weak), as enough of it is finished to understand what happens and the survival horror atmosphere was a welcomes change of pace. The game's finale is thankfully a masterpiece, so the team at least focused on landing the ending. I then returned to the open world and spend a final 20 hours on doing endgame quests and getting my Platinum. I will never deny that the game shouldn't have been shipped in this from but the devs are focused on delivering the necessary patches and content to fill in some of the blank canvas. I lastly finished all offline FF games + most spin-offs. FF XV could have been a top 5 entry if the game was done but the finished product is still a modern RPG highlight and ultimately a success, after 10 years in development hell. 8,5/10

One of the best games I've ever played, one of my most favorite and most memorable games I've ever played. I don't know what it is, I can't put my finger on it; The characters, the story, the bonding between said characters, the entire game itself, everything. I love it all. I will still love it 30 years from now. It will always make me cry too or at least on the verge of crying, don't forget that. Thank you to the creators for making this game. <3

I am a fan of Final Fantasy for over 15 years. This is the game I'm looking forward to playing, but when I finish the game and do a lot of side quests, I feel Final Fantasy 15 not as good as the previous Final Fantasy releases.

Worldmap is very large, but only one city (Altissia), a town (Lestallum) a city of main story (Insomnia), the rest are mostly gas stations, this is not good with a version of the Final Fantasy game. In the Final Fantasy versions 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 and many other versions, the number of cities is numerous and wide, accompanied by a wide variety of side quests. Maps of Final Fantasy 15 are mostly desert, rocky, prairie and not exciting. The side missions are also very monotonous, repetitive. The Ability System is very similar to Final Fantasy 10. The way to absorb element ( Fire, Ice, Lighting ) is borrowed from Final Fantasy 8, and a lot of things of the Final Fantasy 15 reminds me to old Final Fantasy releases.

The summon method is not good and very random. Summons seem useless in this game, they only have a role to contribute to the content of the game.

The game content is really short and less interesting. The plot is predictable. I was excited when buy this game to play, but when I was playing with 200 hours of play, I felt unhappy, and I evaluated the game with a score of 7/10.

Sorry for my bad English .

This game has such a rich, complex story, and fair character development to boot. Unfortunately, not all of it is in the base game.

It's why so many feel the game is incomplete.

As a fan, I love extra content that adds to an already amazing experience. FFXV is not an example of that.

A few issues I had with the game: 1.) Sidequests need a reason to exist, even if it's shaky. Like the chocobo ranch or armiger quests. Otherwise, why would the protagonist postpone saving the world?

2.) Instead of a "slideshow", events of "Kingsglaive" should have been a side quest/story chapter.

3.) Cast needs more in-game development. Anime is great, novels too--but game should reference that.

It's a solid game, but you really have to invest some time in and out of it.

The game starts in the middle of the entire FFXV narrative. So at a bare minimum, I recommend watching the anime OVAs and Kingsglaive movie before playing the game.